


quixotic

by aeicx



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: AU, F/F, First Kiss, One-Shot, Quickie, aka "yellow marquise dia", maid pearl and princess lazuli, mini lesbians, the princess is niece to the yellow marquise diamond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 00:42:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6064294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aeicx/pseuds/aeicx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pearl blushes. A love story? She doesn’t do much for romance. In fact, the only genre of fiction she’s ever managed to read before her sisters caught her is adventure. Pirates, heroes, swordfights. That sort of thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	quixotic

**Author's Note:**

> au; 18th-19th century monarchy. Maid!Pearl, Princess!Lapis Lazuli. Yellow Marquise Dia, that sort of thing.

Pearl has a mere three errands to carry out now. She thanks the gods above and beyond that the Yellow Marquise Dia has just recently bestowed upon one of Pearl’s sisters the task of disposing of her feline’s…excrements (that had been a typically grueling month) and resumes her stroll down the corridor—only to hear the echo of a distant maid clearing her throat, easing the bound in each step before yelping as a vice grip yanks her into an adjacent walkway _right onto the newly refurbished carpet of velvet, what in the name—_

Everything’s a blur until she’s dragged down the rest of the passage and into the courtyard, squatting and fighting to center her line of vision next to the old water well at the heart of four crumbling stone walls. Unkempt blades of grass and daisies tickle the bruises on her left knee from last week’s trip down the stairs. Pearl shakes off the last of her haze and, knees wobbly, starts to rise from her seat along the fellow lowly grass. A small hand wraps around her wrist and yanks her back down.

Of course. Who else could it possibly be?

“La—my lady—!“ Pearl exclaims, only to be cut off as Lapis slaps a palm over her mouth.

“Quiet!” Lapis hisses, quickly scanning the area before resuming her grievances. “You can’t speak until I say so, or Nan will make me stay inside and work on even _more_ equations for disturbing you.” Her eyes narrow. “And I told you not to call me that when we’re alone!”

Pearl widens her eyes, darting back and forth in frantic anticipation, but remains silent. Though there’s no one there, something tells Pearl that her sisters will not take it well if they find her holed up in the old water chamber with the Marquise’s niece, no matter how many adventures the young lady may demand that Pearl attend.

Lapis is waiting for something. Pearl’s not sure what, seeing as there’s no one remotely intimidating rounding the corner. _She_ would know—out of every odd job that’s to be completed by the older maids, the only one that hasn’t been finished is dusting off the shelves, and that’s to be done in the west wing, not the east.

They hold their breath. After a minute of waiting, Lapis can’t take it anymore.

“Look!” she bursts, whipping out a thin leather-bound book from under her dress. Pearl has a sudden image of Lapis frantically dashing about the mansion in search of Pearl, with a hard, square lump visibly protruding and flopping about from under her skirt. She stifles the sudden ludicrous urge to laugh and clears her throat, only to squawk as she narrowly avoids smashing her nose into the pages once Lapis thrusts the book into her face.

“What is this?” Pearl says, extracting the object from Lapis’ fingers. She lifts her gaze from the cover and raises a brow in suspicion.

Lapis grins.

“Just take a look!” she says—demands.

Pearl’s gaze has never been more questionable. “My la…oh, all right. _Lapis_ ,” she says hastily, under Lapis’ glare, “Where did you find this?”

Lapis makes a strangled sort of _shhhhhshshsh_ sound and raises her finger to Pearl’s lips. “Keep your voice down! I was hiding in the library, and Nan was running after me, going on and on.” She shifts to a falsetto and Pearl giggles. “‘My lady, you mustn’t run about the corridors, you’re only twelve years of age, your petticoat was tailored yesterday,’ blah, blah, blah. And while I was hiding, I saw _this_ ,” she gestures to said book, “and I flipped through it! I thought you would like it.”

Pearl blinks in response. “For…for me?”

Lapis nods, smiling—no, beaming. “Open it!”

There’s a sudden flush of warmth in Pearl’s chest and cheeks. Maids are never allowed in the library—the Marquise had been rather vocal of the opinion that scullery maids should keep their noses out of matters in educating themselves. It was, after all, quite useless for a lowly orphan such as herself to taint the pages. Given, there were countless books and quite an extension of novels and encyclopedias, maps and charts, but Pearl had forced herself to realize that the opportunities for which she could spend the knowledge were nowhere near in quantity of the amount of information which was available. The time she had once spent investing in her thirst for knowledge could be put to use in other matters.

Even so, Pearl smooths her hand over the leather-bound cover and eyes it in fascination, turning it over to read the first page. The pages are long, and not lacking the occasional drawing. It doesn’t take long to flip through and see that it’s a love story.

Pearl blushes. A love story? She doesn’t do much for romance. In fact, the only genre of fiction she’s ever managed to read before her sisters caught her is adventure. Pirates, heroes, swordfights. That sort of thing.

Pearl flushes even harder when she looks up and sees Lapis staring at her with that _look_. The look, the oddly concentrated one that Pearl usually catches once she’s removed her focus from something—whether it’s washing the dishes or sneaking off with Lapis and weaving a crown from grass blades and daisies. But it’s not hard, no. There’s a soft sort of air about it, and combined with the intensity behind the gaze, Pearl loses her train of thought and stumbles to retrieve it.

“Have…have you read this book?” she stammers.

“Of course I have!” Lapis says. She pauses. “Well, not exactly,” she admits. “I only looked at the pictures. Hey!” she protests, when Pearl sighs in exasperation. “I don’t like reading, okay? I have enough with Nan shoving textbook readings in my face every morning.”

Pearl shakes her head. “Do you want me to read to you?”

Lapis’ eyes brighten at once. Her spine even tilts opposite the wall behind her. “Would you?”

Pearl smiles. “Alright.”

Pearl’s a fast reader. She’d taught herself to read after meeting Lapis, who had complained enough about her homework to pique Pearl’s interest, who in turn had asked to see a page of Lapis’ homework, who in turn had been more than happy to comply. After what feels like half an hour, she’s already three-quarters of the way through with the novel. Of course, she hasn’t read for months now, but her old practice of skipping lunch breaks for regular trips to the library has really paid off.

Lapis is undoubtedly curious, peering over Pearl’s shoulder and, contrary to her self-proclaimed aversion to books, reading over her shoulder as she goes. Pearl can understand why she doesn’t bother with her homework. Lapis is smart. For all the times they’ve gone on their little adventures around the mansion, she’s executed a rather large number of clever pranks that have indisputably aggravated a good portion of the household. And Pearl has to admit, the one with the lemon cake that earned the young lady a week’s worth of detention in her own bedroom had been particularly ingenious.

Pearl flips the next page and squeaks.

Oh, gods. _Of course_ it would have a kissing scene. With a picture. She can feel her face heating up. How could she have forgotten? And yet, how could she _not_ have expected this? Who would put this in a novel, for everyone else to see? Isn’t this something to be shared in private, between two individuals?

The drawing is beautiful, of course, much like all the others in the book. There’s the main character, the princess, with her dashing knight. They’re sharing a romantic kiss under a tree decked with flowers, leaves scattered on the grass below, roses surrounding the outer frame drawn in thorough detail. Pearl’s face is probably glowing bright red now. Oh, no.

Lapis, however, simply cocks her head to the right to get a better look. Her nose is suddenly close, far too close, to Pearl, who involuntarily cranes her neck in the opposite direction. Lapis doesn’t notice—she’s too invested in the picture.

“Have you ever kissed anyone?” Lapis asks, turning to Pearl. “Whoa,” she says, looking at Pearl’s cheeks—it takes a second for the grin to spread across her face. “Aw, Pearl. Are you embarrassed?” She sniggers, leaning into Pearl’s shoulder even more.

“No!” Pearl protests. “I—I’m just not…I’m not—“ She groans in a mix of frustration and mortification. Lapis can’t stop laughing.

“Well—well, have _you_ ever kissed anyone?” Pearl splutters.

Lapis suddenly shuts up. “Eugh, never,” she says, making a face. “Some of the boys at Dia’s tea parties tried to kiss me. It was revolting.” Lapis shudders. “But I always wondered what it would be like. Sapphire told me that it’s not too bad if you do it with girls.”

Wait a second. “Pearl,” she says, whipping her head around to face the older, as though she’s just discovered an astounding revelation. “ _You’re_ a girl.”

Pearl’s eyes are as wide as saucers. Her head jerks back away from Lapis in a panic. “What? Why?”

“Because! Don’t you want to know what it’s like to kiss a girl? You’ve said so before, you think boys are boring! So why not a girl? And Sapphire told me that it’s something you do with someone that’s close to you, like the princess and the knight—only, we’re both girls, so it would be better. But…” Lapis corrects herself. “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”

Pearl sighs. It’s not that she doesn’t want to do it—she does. She’s burning with wonder. She wants to. She _does_ know how it all works, and yes, boys are boring. She hasn’t anything against them, but she’s fourteen and so far, she’s never fawned over them like her sisters have whenever a tall, male guest walks into the mansion to meet with the Marquise.

And she really is close to Lapis. Who else would she spend her time with, sneaking through the corridors as a team and crafting mechanisms for Lapis’ elaborate schemes? It would be like an experiment.

“Okay,” Pearl says.

“Wait, really? Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Pearl says. “But—but be gentle. I’ve never done this before.” She rubs her neck, avoiding Lapis’ gaze.

“Okay. I will. Um,” Lapis says, “I think…okay. I’ll close my eyes, and you can kiss me when you’re ready.”

Pearl’s expression softens at that. “Thank you.”

“Yeah.”

Lapis sits with her legs crossed on the grass, eyes shut and lips still. Pearl takes a deep breath and waits a beat, then leans in.

Their lips brush against each other, just barely. Still, Pearl can’t help but marvel at just how _soft_ Lapis is as she holds her by the arms, gently. Lapis slides a hand up to Pearl’s shoulder and leans in, almost asking for more. Her dark hair brushes against Pearl’s cheeks and her lips part just so at the contact.

Pearl’s heart is racing. She tentatively creaks open an eye after pulling away an inch or two, and blinks in surprise to see twin splotches of pink on Lapis’ cheeks.

“I, uh.” Lapis coughs. “Um.”

“…That was nice,” Pearl says. Lapis nods, looking elsewhere.

“Um. I—I think I hear Nan calling me. I’m going to go now, see you tomorrow!” Lapis snatches the book next to Pearl—“Hey, wait!”—and sprints in the opposite direction with the novel tucked under her arm.

Pearl remains seated for a while, rewinding and processing the course of events through her mind. “What in the world?” She rises from her seat with her apron in hand, huffing. “I didn’t even get to finish the book.”


End file.
